A
Master of Arts
Thesis at
Lamar
University
Printed
by
Nederland
Publishing
Company
P.
0. Drawer 1326
Nederland,
Texas 77627
,
W. T. Block,
1976
Most people
would agree
that the
repulse of an
invasion fleet
in 1863 and
the oil
eruption at
Spindletop in
1901 were the
two
outstanding
historical
events in
Jefferson
County’s
history. Each
event has
spawned
volumes of
history. In a
sense, each
occurrence
marked the
decline of an
old order. The
outcome of the
Civil War
ended slavery
and witnessed
the regression
of the cattle
industry.
Gradually, the
new lumber and
sawmill barons
replaced the
stockmen as
Jefferson
County’s
economic
backbone. As
the virgin
forests
vanished and
petroleum was
discovered,
the process of
economic
transition
began anew.
In
this first of
two planned
volumes to
terminate in
the year 1901,
the writer has
purposely
delayed his
Master of Arts
degree in
order to seek
for every
possible
source of
Jefferson
County’s
antebellum
history. There
were men such
as George A.
Pattillo,
Henry Millard,
Stephen H.
Everett, Dr.
Frederick W.
Ogden, and
James R.
Armstrong who
were equally
at home in the
capitol at
Austin as they
were in
Jefferson
County, and
whose lives
are recorded
in the ensuing
chapters. The
writer,
however, has
endeavored to
chronicle the
“little
people” as
well, for it
was they who
collectively
laid the
foundations
for our
metropolis,
nearing
one-quarter
million
persons, of
today.
In
the past, myth
and legend
have often
prevailed, and
a single,
forty-minute
battle has
become
synonymous
with four
years of the
county’s Civil
War history.
It is the
writer’s hope
that this
volume will
remove much of
the shroud of
mystery and
uncertainty,
which
heretofore has
surrounded
those years
prior to 1865.
W. T. Block
P. O. Box 62
Nederland,
Texas 77627
To
Ralph Ancil
Wooster and
Cooper Kirby
Ragan
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